Prof. Dr. Lea Boecker

Lea Boecker is a Junior Professor of Psychology, in particular Societal Transformation at the Institute for Management and Organization. She studied psychology at the University of Würzburg and earned her Ph.D. at the Social Cognition Center Cologne. Her research focuses on the interactions between social cognition (e.g., social comparisons), social emotions (e.g., schadenfreude and envy), and motivation, as well as their diverse impacts on societal transformation processes. A particular emphasis of her work is the application of these insights to socially relevant areas such as health behavior, sustainability, sports, and politics.

Additional research fields include the study of emotional facial expressions, prosocial behavior, status (dominance and prestige), social norms, and inequality. In her research, she combines self-report measures with psychophysiological assessments such as electromyography (EMG) and emotion recognition using artificial intelligence.

Academic career and education

• Since 07/2024: Junior Professor of “Psychology, in particular the Transformation of Society,” Leuphana University Lüneburg, Germany
• 09/2018 – 07/2024: Assistant Professor at Leuphana University Lüneburg, Department of Social, Economic Psychology & Methods, Germany
• 01/2014 – 07/2018: Research Associate and PhD Student at the University of Cologne, Social Cognition Center Cologne (SoCCCo), Germany
• 03/2013 – 12/2013: Research Associate at the University of Würzburg, Department of Biological, Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, Germany
• 10/2007 – 03/2013: Diploma Studies in Psychology, University of Würzburg, Germany